


The Awakening

by archetypes



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Avatar: The Last Airbender AU, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Gen, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-20 16:01:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11924340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archetypes/pseuds/archetypes
Summary: Clary's mother took her away from the Fire Nation the moment she was discovered to be the Avatar, Valentine's plan to use his daughter as a weapon of mass destruction on hold as he searches for her; complete demolition being left behind in his Nation's wake. Clary takes refuge in a southern Water Tribe, meeting Alec and Isabelle shows her that she'll need friends to win this war. // Avatar: The Last Airbender!AU // Eventual MALEC & CLACE.





	1. Book One: Water | Part I

The village could hear their arrival before they could see them, the mechanical whir of the airships circling overhead until the ground began to shake, every piece of wood in their building cracking against each other, the air smacking everything like an artificial tornado was trying to form from the boulder sized propellers. Clary could hear people shrieking, calling out for their families even before her mind was registering what was happening, the covers pulled up to her throat as she tried to stay asleep. Her mother started to shake her awake, pale, clammy hands yanking on the covers until her daughter was coherent enough to listen. Emerald eyes went wide as she looked at her mom now, who had _never_ looked scared before, seemed to be shaking with terror.

"Clary, come on get up, we have to go." She commanded, this horrible crease between her brows as she turned away, the younger's eyes following her as she started to frantically pack a handmade bag with Clary's essentials. Clothes, some self-care products on the carved dresser, and even a few pairs of sandals lying next to the door- all of them off to the side so she never tripped on them when coming back into her bedroom after a long day.

"What's going on, Mom?" The girl was beginning to feel her frantic emotions too, her aura slipping into Clary's like it was a virus that spread from one victim to the next. "Mom! What is that sound!" She had to start yelling now, that harsh gusting of the air around their home coming to a climax. She sat up further, the multicolored wool covers coming down to her waist, the scratchy hand woven fabric had always made her itch in the morning like she had bed bugs but her mother had worked very hard on it and never could she be willing to trade it for anything else. "Tell me something! What's going on!" Sick of sounding like a broken record she jumped off of her bed, bare feet hitting the cold carpeting, this heavy vibration beginning at the flats of her feet and making her shoulders tremble.

"It's your father, Clary." It wasn't much of an explanation but it made the girl go rigid, a clench in her jaw that made a cracking sound inside her skull, molars rubbing together like a sander on wood. "He found us it's-" there was a sound akin to a heavy weight smacking the ground just outside and Jocelyn dashed to the window, dropping the bag in her hand like it was nothing, favoring instead to shove the curtains aside to get a peak out into the night. Clary followed behind her like a loyal dog, hands gripping her shoulders as she peered over her shoulder to try and gauge how bad it was out there, what could be going on. With the fog of the glass it was hard to see anything but blotches of dark spots, even with her eyes squinted for a better view, yet still she could make out dozens and dozens of people coming out of a heavily armed airship. The metal entrance ramp planted into the ground as they all marched down it in two rows, torches in every hand. It was obviously Fire Nation soilders, invading this small, powerless village. The way they headed forward, shoving anyone in their way aside, it was clear, even to a tired and confused Clary, they were on a mission. Searching for her.

There was an audible _gulp_ that came from the two women, and backing away from the window seemed to be both of their instinct and yet so entirely useless. Fear did not prevent the truth, no matter how much she wanted it to in this moment. "They're here for us, how did they know? How did he-?"

"It doesn't matter, okay? It doesn't matter how we just have to go. Get... get your bag, get Talika ready and we'll go." Despite the plan flowing from her determined lips, the sound of it was cracked and dry, Clary could see underneath the layer of confidence. The _mom_ layer. Her only true family, her protector, the one she loved the most... it was empty and she could not hide that from her daughter. Even Clary wished she could, wished she could believe that they could just escape unscathed.

"Mom all of those people are in danger! We can't just leave them, and what about Simon? I can't leave Simon and his mom here. We have to get them!" Panicked words were accompanied by this reflexive shake of her hands, trying to convey how deeply she felt about not leaving Simon, the only friend she had that knew the truth, who she really was. That her father was the Firelord and that she alone was able to bend all four elements- the Avatar. He had known since they were five years old, Clary playing with him in his sandbox behind his house, making small pikes out of sand to build little houses for their dolls. He asked her how she was a firebender, yet be able to bend the sand like that. She remembered the sun beating down on them, glancing up at him with squinted green eyes and a smile on her chubby face, laughing as she made a little S for _Simon_ in the walls of their brand new sand house. Small, giggly Clary Fray told him that her mother said she was special and he agreed. If she left him now to be captured by the Fire Nation, or even worse tortured for information, she would never be able to forgive herself.

"They're not here for these people, when we leave they'll follow us, I promise you. They'll see us on Talika and follow." Despite the remaining confidence in those words Clary could hear that begging underneath it all, as if she didn't even believe herself but needed her daughter to.

Before being able to protest anymore the rush began again, that bag returning to her grip and once it was stuffed full with clothes, with books and shoes, she shoved it in Clary's arms, demanding she hold it before yanking her forward by the arm and dragging her out of the room. "Hold on! Hold on!" The redhead stepped into a pair of remaining sandals and then they raced off down the hall, burning torch light pouring in from behind the closed drapes, a heavy burlap not even shielding them from the distant flames. The open room was left untouched, her mother having already prepared herself bags while Clary was asleep... or maybe she had them together all along, never prepared to be able to keep Clary hidden away in their village forever. Everyone here a nonbender, all powerless from the Fire Nation's attacks and it fills her to the very brim with this disgusting guilt. These people could never fight them off, would never have stood a chance against them and even still she brought them here. Putting them all in the spotlight if ever discovered. They all knew very well that the Fire Nation was not known for compassion or forgiveness, and now that these people are seen as having harbored Clary for this long... would they be given any mercy or were they traitors in this war now? Did she just kill them all?

"Call for her!" Her mother shouted, this pained look on her face as she scooped her bags up in her hands and flung the door open to the front of their home, sending her daughter harsh glances as she waited for Clary to call her pet- a scaled, flying, giant cat. That breathed fire. She was hatched from a small, black egg just a year after Clary was born, her father giving it to her as gift for her birthday. Her first friend could not speak back to her but she's had many conversations with her pet and now, looking around in the darkness and not seeing her there, it sent a ripple of concern down her body in earth shaking waves. 

"Tali!" It was a whisper, this harsh spit of the word out into the night because even though the soldiers had seemed to take a turn towards the other homes for now it wasn't as if they were all exactly far away. "Talika!" She tried once more, desperation coating her throat and making her words sound sticky with it. "I don't know where she went!" She felt this lump, like her stomach was dropping and then shooting all the way up into her neck, trying to suffocate her. The two of them ran around their home, back and forth, passing each other multiple times, sandals hitting the short grass over and over like a pattern and yet every angle they turned, they were met with nothing. Looking out back at the other homes she could see torches lighting up the insides, shadows of people playing on the curtains, many making animated gestures and cradling their family members like this would be last time they would ever get to see them. That sense of death, like you knew it was your last moment, were they living in it right now? Were they whispering words of comfort in each other's ears and singing their children lullabies because the last thing they should ever wish to hear is the beautiful melody of their mother signing to them?

Paralyzed by the guilt, Clary only stood there while her mother called out again and again for their quick getaway, their only hope in being able to escape quickly and untouched... leaving all of these innocents behind like they weren't even alive. Like they didn't matter. "Are you listening? Come on, we have to catch a boat! People have to be escaping!" Her mother's voice came back to her like a dull buzz turning into a loud roar of unintelligible sound, the screams and metal boots clanking around inside just feet away from them drowning out in favor of these clear instructions. She nodded abruptly, their feet hitting the ground like it was flying out from underneath them, the dewy grass sliding out and almost making her slip and lose her balance multiple times. They rounded corner after corner, avoiding every open space and sliding around the backs of houses. She could see not only the port, but Simon's home, no fire inside yet, no burning terror from his mother. She looked away and back at that front door again and again, heavy pants of exercised breath leaving her throbbing chest like she was debating something while also trying to run away from it all. If she owed it to anyone, if she could save just a few innocents, she needed it to be them. She knew these people and they knew her, they knew who she was, who her father was, and leaving them behind during an invasion from the Fire Nation did not seem like anything but the ultimate betrayal. 

She groaned loud in an internal battle, her mother looking back at her as she cut away from their path, running out in front of another dark hut and making a line straight for Simon's door, her feet not letting her do anything but go, go, go. "Clary, no!" She heard the elder cry out and start to follow behind her, gaining speed in her blind worry for her impulsive daughter that just needed to save her childhood friend's life. Nothing would stop her. She launched herself at the wooden door, two fists pounding on the dull material, her bag's straps sliding down to her elbow, all of that weight pressing down on her arm making her skin tingle and ache.

"Simon! Simon! Simon, come out!" The Avatar cried out, her knuckles turning red with the constant force she kept smacking the door. Her mom caught up with her, harsh breathing coming up behind her as she yanked on her child's shoulder, trying to pry her away from her mission to get inside of his house. She kept trying though, fighting against those loving hands and only screamed louder, "Simon!"

"Stop, they'll hear you, we have to keep going!"

"Simon's in there I'm not leaving him to die!"

"He won't!"

With just those two words the girl snapped out of blind rage, "You don't know that, or even worse, you do! You know what Valentine will do to these people for protecting me and none of them even knew who I was! I won't leave him here to get killed, so go without me or help me get inside!" She didn't pause, just pivoted and began banging on the door once more, calling out her friends name like it was a mantra she had been working on. "Simon, please!"

And like the Spirits were listening to her struggle, this pained exhale of every breath, they decided to spare her and Simon tugged the door open, this painfully worried look on his face and behind him she could see his mother crying silently, a cup in her hands that was likely containing alcohol- it made Clary sick to see. "Oh, Simon!" She cried out, throwing both of her arms around him and tugging him against her chest against his will. Though he didn't seem to mind, just wrapped her up in return, both of their bodies trembling through the fear. "We have to get out of here, we're going down to the docks to get on a ship, you guys have to come with!" She said this not only to her best friend but to his mother. Her second one.

"We can't leave, they'll only follow us." This came from an eerily calm Mrs. Lewis. Despite that look on her face her voice didn't waver like everyone else's. Clary wondered if it was that liquid courage going down her throat. 

"Mom we have to go with them, they'll burn the village." He agreed with Clary, peeling his body off of hers and turning back to face the woman who raised him all alone. They had that in common, for neither of them thought there was anyone better than their mothers, no one else quite as strong or as beautiful. Usually light tones and jokes, Simon had none of that tonight, and when not even he could find humor in a situation then Clary was truly scared.

"Let them." This was all she said, like she was asking the Spirits to strike them all down where they stood.

It did not all happen in slow motion like Clary would have expected, everything began to move ten times faster than normal time, like someone had started to play puppet master with the universe's clock. Clary's mother screamed, torches lighting up behind Clary and when she turned she saw three firebenders, all of them holding the woman who birthed her, down into the ground with unrelenting grips, sand and grass scraping against her face and making her unable to say much but she still looked at Clary. There was nothing that wold haunt her more than what she saw in those eyes, that look of utter defeat, like she was silently trying to say she was done for. Clary could hear the _I told you so_ in the air. Not in her mom's voice but her own, like she was the one to pass the ultimate judgement down on herself. She let out a glass shattering cry, voice reaching a volume she hadn't ever heard coming from herself before and Simon's arms wound around her again, yanking her body backwards and tugging her inside with him, slamming his door shut the moment he was able. "Mom!" Clary was still screaming, hands clinging to her best friend's arms and clawing like he was keeping her from all the sustenance she'd ever get in this life. There was bile piling up in her gut, making her mouth wet with sick and every time she opened it she felt like she was going to topple over and let it out all over Simon's floor.

There was banging on the door as her best friend was trying to pull her from this coma, grab her from despair and pull her back into reality. "Clary, come on!" She paused for only a few seconds more, staring deep into the lines of the door, watching the way it bent under the power of the soldiers fists. It was when she saw it burning, this black ring beginning to grow from the outside in, did she stand back up on her own two feet, following Simon's lead and running to his mother. She watched as he reached for her, trying to pull her up out of her chair. "Mom, please! We have to go! Do it for me, do it for dad!" All she did was stare at the door, waiting for the show and she got one. This blinding ball of flames shot through the thick material, flying past their heads and clashing with the far wall, the wood there too quickly carrying these flames. "Mom! The house is gonna come down! Please!" His voice began to quiver, like he too was bending under the weight of this pressure, just as Clary was, but now it was he who needed a shove to leave his mother behind. Otherwise they couldn't save either of them.

"They'll follow," she began, watching the way one of the soldiers tossed his lit torch inside, a hateful snarl on his lips as he watched the carpeting begin to catch fire and his hand slipped inside the hole in the door, reaching for the handle and pulling it open. "They'll follow us, they'll leave after we do! She'll be okay!" She pleaded with him, giving him the last bit of confidence she had left in her as she echoed the previous words of her mother. Neither of them had the time to spare one last glance at their family, they bolted through the house, rushing towards the back door and kicking it open without bothering to shut it. She could hear Simon crying as they headed for the port, a small line of people that had actually managed to escape in time before they seized the ships following a wooden ramp up into the ship, a man ushering them inside quickly, hand waving obnoxiously fast.

The village was lit up now, many houses caught aflame, the firebenders ruthless in their search and Clary had the inkling that her father had ordered them to be. 

"They're okay!" Simon cried out, taking Clary's hand in his own for the rest of the sprint, trying to convince not just Clary but likely himself as well that not only would their mothers be okay but the whole village, all of these people they've grown up around, that all of the memories and happiness that was once here would not burn up in the fires as well. "They'll follow us like you said, they'll leave them alone, right? Right?" His voice was louder than necessary and all Clary could do was nod as quickly as she could manage while they began going at a downhill speed, her hair flying behind her like it's own flame as the port started getting closer and closer and just as their feet hit the wooden dock the last of the terrified people were getting inside, the man at the entrance following after and another gust of panic swallowed Clary up in it's hungry maw. 

"Wait!" It seemed futile, as the ramp was folding in on itself, going back inside of the ship. "Wait, please!" She tried again, but they were already there and without a second thought to logistics she leaped, her legs straining and then going out from under her as she successfully smacked against the moving ramp, causing her to fall down on her ass. That crash landing did not dampen her already piss poor mood, for she made it and finally, that was a small victory alone! She looked around to smile at her best friend for the first time tonight but to her dismay Simon had not followed her lead even though she had been holding his hand as she made the impromptu jump. "Come on! Hurry!" She called out to him, moving further and further away as the floor beneath her did so on it's own. He seemed to hesitate out of fear for a moment, glancing back at their home just as he did so, and it made her stand up, ready and willing to jump back onto land with him. She would find another way to get him to safety if he couldn't do this. Just as she stepped forward to return back to the dock he backed up, willing himself to face the fear. After getting a running start he propelled forward, his chest smacking against the very edge of the ramp and he wheezed in pain, beginning to slide off into the water. "Are you okay?" She asked, voice coated in concern as she bent down to grab a hold of his arms and attempt to tug him up onto his feet.

"Oh... yeah. No air, can't breathe. I'm awesome." He coughed, shooting her some sarcasm even though now was certainly not the time. 

"Well I told you to hurry!" She sighed, not in the mood to joke around and finally he was standing again, the two of them wiping off his shirt for just a second before they remembered the ground was slowly disappearing beneath them and then jogged to get inside of the ship.

"I didn't know you were just going to jump!"

"What was I supposed to do, there was no where else to go."

"Maybe give me a countdown next time, just saying."

There were only thirteen people besides them on board, all of them were grouped up in what looked to be by family, a mother was holding her two children in her arms as she sobbed and hid her face in her daughters hair. In the far left corner a father was dressing his son for sleep, telling him that in the morning everything would be alright. She hoped that little boy believed him, that he could sleep peacefully tonight because she wouldn't be able to. That black, tar thick slosh of guilt ran through her veins again, looking at all she had caused, every single family she had uprooted and how others didn't even make it on; it made her heart ache. She hadn't even been able to save all of the people closest to her. How would she be able to fix all of this, stop her father, save her mother, if she couldn't even _escape_ properly? 

"Hey," Simon broke her out of this uneasy trance, eyes glued to the floor because looking everywhere else hurt too much. "We should find somewhere to sleep." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, tugging her against him in a half-hug. Though it was mean't comfort she didn't feel any better. She sighed, the smell of ash and burning embers still living on all of them like a perfume clung to your skin. The scent made her stomach churn. 

"Okay... we'll need our strength." She reasoned aloud with that part of her that said she would never be able to fall asleep tonight and if she did she would only see a nightmare, the way her mother looked on the ground, so broken. The only thing worse than your mind making images up just to scare you was the real life things that came back to haunt you, leaving dirty fingerprints all over your mind.

She and Simon trudged through this lower deck, past sleeping children and protective parents watching them carefully as they walked by. Some of these people Clary had known what seemed to be forever and now they all just stared at each other as if strangers. Clary dropped her bag against a wall, gnawing on her lower lip as she pulled out some thick shawls from the Earth Kingdom for them to cover themselves up with in lieu of blankets. As she handed one off to Simon she began to tear up, this slight hiccup leaving her mouth as she tries to look away before he sees her. "It's so stupid, but..." she began, releasing a slight bitter laugh. "after all that just happened I just wish I brought the blanket my mom made me." She stared longingly into the bag, everything inside of her wishing for that itchy, worn wool thing to appear right now. 

He laughed beside her as he pulled his knees up to his chest and draped the shawl over his body, those dark green and brown earthy tones fitting him well. "It's not stupid, I actually miss my mom's horrible pancakes already... it sucks because I won't get to wake up to that, you know?"

She turned back to look at him now, shoving her bag back just a little bit before laying her head down on it, her body curled up as she threw the shawl over her legs. The look on her face was almost pained again, searching his eyes over and over to make sure she caught every fleck of sadness in that light brown. "I'm sorry." She spoke, just barely above a murmur, and if they weren't so close together maybe he wouldn't have heard it at all.

He scoffed, eyebrows drawing together like he was trying to determine what language she was speaking to him in. "Don't apologize to me, Fray. This isn't your fault. We'll fix this... you're the Avatar." He said it like she was a living legend. "You're _special_ remember? You can do this, **we** can do this. Now go to sleep before you start saying something else crazy and I have to find you a muzzle." He knew how she became when swallowed with guilt and he wasn't going to allow it. She silently thanked the universe for him, for a friend so kind and loyal to her. 

"Okay," she smiled, her eye lids drooping just a little bit over and over until she could no longer keep them open, like they started to weigh too much. "We got this..." She repeated quietly, every part of her body becoming lax, because even though she swore up and down she wouldn't be able to fall asleep, all of that running, the combination of raw fear and emotional turmoil, it was like it all completely drained her dry. That night she dreamed of absolutely nothing, her mind a black void, empty of everything including colors and she wondered if that was worse than any nightmare, if maybe her brain being too fried to even conjure up the boogeyman was a sign of something terrible.

  


* * *

  


The first thing she can hear when she is torn from her thoughtless sleep is the sound of the people on board with her, the only talking that has occurred since they got on last night. There was the slight motion of the waves rocking them, the water licking at the ship and making it echo with the almost calming noise. Simon on the other hand, did not agree. She shot up, blinking rapidly as she looked around for him only to see him crouched in the corner a few feet away from her, his body bending and his face hidden in a bucket so he could easily empty his stomach of whatever had been digesting from the day before. "Are you sea-sick?" she questioned, running a hand through her hair just once before tucking some of it behind her ear. He didn't respond at first, just wrenched, his insides seeming to twist with the vomit rising and spewing in the tin pail. Before she could sit all the way up to make her way towards him he held out his other hand, a single finger raised in warning. He let loose just one more time before he swallowed loudly, shoving the bucket away and letting his head smack against the wall. 

"I'm fine." He protested in a way that seemed so out of breath it was like he hadn't stopped running all night. "You-you don't feel that? That _rocking_?" He asked, his face scrunched up with displeasure as he looked back at his friend.

Clary giggled, shrugging her shoulders but also looking quite sorry for him. "I thought it was calming actually, not sickening."

"Calming? It's like we're gonna tip over."

"It's a pretty big ship, I don't think we'll tip over."

"What do you know?" He asked rhetorically, another groan passing through sick lips as the boat seemed to push forward some more and then halting to a stop, the water protesting with it's movements so it shook, rocking back and forth for a minute or two- long enough for Simon to decide he needed to grab the bucket again, his eyes screwed shut as this next pained noise echoed inside the tin. 

"Where are we?" A woman asked the man from last night who had been guiding everyone safely inside except Simon and Clary. He didn't answer right away, just strode towards the opening, where the ramp would likely soon be rolled out again to another dock. "We can't possibly be at the Earth Kingdom's capital yet."

Clary watched the man carefully, deciding right away to stuff her and Simon's shawls back in her bag, "We're not at Ba Sing Se, we're at the southern Water Tribe. We must stop for food here though no one has to get off if they don't wish to. We should only be docked about an hour."

He let the door come open and the ramp roll down onto the small port, just as small as theirs had been at home. It led Clary to believe, with just this momentary glance, that this place couldn't have been much bigger. The man stepped off but no one else made any move to get up, preferring to stay aboard until reaching their destination. "When did they decide we were going to Ba Sing Se?" She asked Simon, though didn't take her eyes from the opening, hoping to see some people or even a home or two. 

"Don't know, probably before we got on." He whined, tossing the bucket aside again and sitting down on his butt now to calm down and regain all of his strength. 

"Do you want to get off here? I want-"

"Yes, God. Please." He interrupted her, clutching his stomach as he stood up, head hung while he waited rather impatiently for her to join him. She laughed, trying to hide it as she grabbed her bag and the two of them headed out to explore this small Water Tribe.


	2. Book One: Water | Part II

Simon was wobbly beside her, as if trying to walk against the ocean current himself, one hand clutching his stomach while the other dragged across the wooden walls until they were heading down the ramp, the breeze strong enough that it carried sea salt with it. Clary ran her tongue up along the roof of her mouth, stunned to find the rustic taste inside. There was snow sticking to the ground, a few men from the ship carrying full crates back and forth to a cargo hold while a woman wearing the royal blue that usually clung to a Water Tribe's matriarch was directing them around. All the information in the world had only been given to her from her mother's word of mouth, but also in the form of scrolls and tomes depicting multi-cultural society far away from their little village in the far, southernmost region of the world. She feels as if she's seen this woman in pictures before, though she knows she hasn't. That strong jawline, lips a tight line as she directs the foreign men back and forth, allowing none to pass too far into her Tribe, near her people. Her hair was braided, thick black strands bound together with one neatly tied strap at it's base, the lose hairs even beyond that weren't straying from the bunch.

Once their feet touched the snow she could feel it was dry, raising the ground inch by fallen inch, and she shivered almost violently, not truly dressed for the snow considering she hadn't had the time to plan for it. "Are you cold?" She asked Simon, teeth chattering enough to make her vision vibrate around and around. "I'm cold." Her pale skin prickled, hair's standing up and little bumps all over.

"Freezing." He agreed almost instantaneously, arms coming up to cross over his chest, no longer concerned about his sea-sick stomach.

Before either of them could stop to grab something from her bag she watched that stone woman approach them, boots as thick as bricks leaving prints in the ground with every purposeful step. "Excuse me," She began, her voice matching her face. Hard. Business. Unafraid. Clary froze, letting her bag fall down into the crease of her elbow again and she could see Simon avert his gaze from the matriarch in her peripheral. The redhead, on the other hand, put on her warmest of smiles, trying to seem as kind as she could possibly be after losing her whole life. "No one is to come off the ship and into my Tribe. That's what your ship's workmen assured me." This was no question and she didn't want to hear that it was a misunderstanding, that much was clear.

"Hello, I actually just wanted to-"

"To what? There is a _war_ going on as I'm sure you've noticed. I cannot just have people coming in and out of my Tribe. How would I know if either of you were firebenders, sent to my Tribe to try and assimilate us for your cause of... devastation?" She sent both arms outwards, palms facing upwards in an exampling expression. As if she was daring them to defy her concerns. "So as you can see, I've already aided your people enough. Sending **our** food off with you so you may journey safely and _alive_ to wherever you're headed. You're welcome."

The pair looked taken aback, though Simon less so and more like he just saw something very interesting off on a glacier. Despite being born into the Fire Nation Clary understood this cause for concern. She had just witnessed what they could do, what they could accomplish in just a night with some torches- and if they had a bigger village and more time who knows what else they would be able to destroy. These people here have families too. They have lives and goals and wish for this war to end. Clary didn't want to get them killed too, in case they had been following the ship she and Simon got on, she wanted to travel, figure out how to end this, how to get a grip on all of the elements. She couldn't defeat her father as a one-trick pony could she? She needed a new trick, an arsenal of weapons and tactics. You cannot fight fire with fire, and while she was here all Clary wanted to do was find someone to teach her waterbending. She wanted a Master, she wanted to be able to do more than move the snow around or make small waves. She could create a bonfire with an ember but what about a hurricane with a puddle?

She shook her head, that polite smile falling away, "Why don't you try asking me instead of accusing?" With her left hand held out she crouched down, prepared to do the only trick she knew how to do- in a very small dosage of it. She gathered a fistful of the snow, her fingers numbing almost immediately, bones chilled. She straightened herself back up, fist still facing the ground and when she opened it the snow stayed in place, looking as if a rough cotton cloud, and drops of water began to fall, pooling itself into little crevices back in the ground until all of the snow was gone from her fistful. Her own little rain cloud. "I'm a waterbender, not a firebender." 

Despite that obvious trick of the element, the Water matriarch didn't seem to be moved but rather more suspicious of the girl in front of her. Her raven brow quirked, "No one else on that ship is a bender... why aren't you with your Tribe?"

"Oh," The stutter step had Simon facing her now, that friendly light brown wide with anxiety, awaiting her pending answer. "I, well, my mother raised me alone ever since I was five..." 

"Your mother must have disrespected her people." It was an easy dismissal, as if finished with this entire conversation while also insulting her mother with no knowledge about her character. "You and your friend cannot stay, you must leave when your boat does but until then... go." The words seemed to pain her and yet she pivoted, head turned towards the Tribe, dark eyes as hard as coal. "Purchase whatever you need to or... whatever it is you're seeking. If I hear you've caused trouble there will be more than hell to pay. I don't have _time_ to watch children right now, there are much more important matters I must attend to."

"You won't have to watch us!" Simon spoke up, hands clasping together and this excitable smile lighting up his previously terrified expression, trying to get the woman on their side but she only seemed disgusted to hear him speak. "We're _so_ responsible, I haven't even been grounded before."

"I didn't ask." She spoke plainly, voice deceivingly light. Before she could begin to change her mind there was a voice behind her, a women's, calling her _momma_. She turned completely, hands clasping together but that tight look loosened just a smidgen, the corners of her mouth barely turning upwards as two people approached, also dressed up in that royal blue.

There was a man and a woman. The girl looked as if she was no older than Clary's eighteen. She had the same raven locks of the stone woman, hair free and curled as it traveled halfway down her back, a small braid pulling one lock around to the back of her head where it was pinned down elegantly. Her cheek bones were high and her lips were a dark red, yet Clary could assume it was such a natural look on her, even as it seemed to clash with her dark blue, woven top. The man looked related to the women, sharing that dark hair color and earthy toned eyes. His face did not carry a smile like the girl with him, he matched the elder woman. Stoic with a tight lip and disapproving brow. He was tall, towering over everyone else and Clary could feel his heavy gaze like a punch to the gut. He belonged in the cold, chilling blue tones of his thick coat.

"Who are these people?" The man asked, his voice deep and unamused while his hands were clasped together behind his back and his shoulders slouched just the slightest bit as he looked down at all of them. "No one is supposed to get off."

"Perfect timing." The elder woman began again, not answering his question. "I want you two to accompany these people around. Make sure they get back on board when their ship is preparing to leave the docking bay." And right as the older boy nodded at her she stalked off, walking past Clary and Simon to get to the port, calling out at one of the men carrying cargo, demanding to know what's taking so long. Clary shudders, that horrible scalding aura leaving pulled a weight off of her but there was another added, no sparkling smile from the man like there was from the girl.

"I'm sorry about our mom, she's stressed right now. There's been a lot of Fire Nation ships passing through lately and we've all had to be on lockdown... everyone stay inside and play nice. All of that." The girl laughed, a playful flip of that gorgeous hair over her shoulder like talk of the war was the simplest of conversations. "This is my brother Alec, and I'm Isabelle." She let a hand come out in front of her, gesturing first to Clary with that petite, tanned hand. 

She just shook it politely, not really looking at the brother, Alec. "I'm Clary. Nice to meet you." Once over with the same gesture was given next to Simon and he... floundered. 

"Hi I'm Simon, Simon Lewis. Nonbender, but totally... impressed by the waterbenders. Not that I know if either of you can bend. I mean it's not a rule or anything, I know it doesn't always work like that. My mom was born in the Earth Kingdom! She can't bend!" He used the wrong hand at first, bumping it against hers awkwardly and then had to quickly switch it around until he was shaking it wildly, up and down, up and down, making Clary woozy just looking at it. The redhead subtly gripped his elbow, pulling his arm back after an awkward amount of time and he stammered, this slight cough but it was clear in his eyes he was thankful for his friend. "Nice to meet you." He finished, nodding sadly, almost like he was chastising himself on the inside.

Isabelle only laughed, seeming very amused, but Alec did not. "We're not here to be friends with you. Get what you need and leave."

"Alec," His presumably younger sister shot him a look of disapproval. "I'm sorry about him."

"Don't apologize for me."

Clary scoffed at that, this harsh glare in his eyes that she just shot back at him. She couldn't understand why he was so put off by someone he didn't even know. His mother had already granted her entry in the Tribe, what else did he need to hold reservations about? "Yeah, no need Isabelle, he clearly just wants us to go so he can take that stick out of his ass in private."

The other girl laughed, a delicate hand coming to cover her mouth while also stepping forward to grab Clary's arm, looping her own in there and bumping her head against hers with muted giggles flowing from those ruby red petals. Simon made an impressed noise too, clasping his best friend's shoulder while Alec stepped forward, staring down at her like she was garbage- her gaze did not falter. "I would keep my mouth shut if I were you, this isn't exactly a place where you have any free reign and I doubt you want to be thrown out on your ass."

"Your m-"

"I don't care." He cut her off, his hazel eyes were more like two pitch black voids.

Her nose scrunched in distaste, watching him carefully as he stepped aside and crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for them to go into the actual populated part of his home, seeing no more interest in speaking with her. Isabelle began to tug her along, this sympathetic look being given to her sibling as they all started off. "Okay... well first of all you need new shoes. How are your toes okay in the snow? You can't wear sandals here, you'll get frostbite." She spoke matter-of-fact. Clary took a brief moment to glance down at _her_ shoes, though of course they were thick boots, the deep snow not able to penetrate them like they could Clary's flimsy sandals, the snow able to spill over and touch her skin.

"I'm not going to be here that long, you know. I don't really think I need to get anything like that."

"Of course you do. Even if you're not staying here who says you'll never be in the cold again?"

"And who says I don't have snow boots in my bag right now?" 

"Do you?" There was a wide grin on both of their faces at that and they stared at each other for a second, slowing their walking speed a tad until they both broke off in laughter, Clary looking awfully guilty. "That's what I thought, come on." The girl glanced back as they started up their previous pace again, sneaking a peak at her brother and when Clary did the same she felt slightly uncomfortable, seeing the way he trailed behind while she took his sister hostage, his eyes anywhere but on the people in front of him.

"Alright, alright." She gave in with an uneasy laugh, looking straight ahead, her stomach churning though she knew she had no reason to feel guilty for snapping at him. He had been rude first, unapproachable and slightly aggressive. It was what he deserved.

There were a few igloos, all the way off from the mainland, Clary could see some large dog/polar bear hybrids chasing each other, tongues hanging out and grazing against their greyish chins as they left track after track in the snow to try and tackle the others down for fun. Surrounding them now though as they came into the population was chunky, wooden buildings covered with thick tarps made of real fur on the roofs and tacked down on the walls. Warmth came from a central bonfire that stood taller than Alec, little embers flying past them on the breeze. People looked as they walked past, staring down Clary and Simon like they were a threat, blue coats pointing towards them in every direction. "We're popular." Simon joked, leaning over slightly to look at their beautiful guide. "I'm guessing visitors aren't all that common around here."

"It's the middle of a war." Alec spoke up from behind them, tone of voice something scoffing and obvious like he should know this.

"...I can see why tourism has decreased then."

The matriarchs son only looked further away from them now, if possible. Just a hair from being turned away from them completely. 

The market area wasn't large, just ten or so stalls in a large circle, acting as a center of sorts. Everything was locally handmade it seemed, except maybe the thicker blankets with worn earthen tones, Clary wonders if those came from Ba Sing Se. "Shoes first." Isabelle announced, her other arm winding past the redhead to snatch Simon by the sleeve and tug him around to her other side, now having the two of them on both of her arms. "See anything you like?" She cocks her head at the two of them almost simultaneously, that sparkling smile never slipping- she was made to charm.

The Avatar could hear Alec scoff quietly, this fake, bitter laughter. She rolled her eyes but otherwise ignored him, "Uh," she wondered briefly how many coins her mother put in her bag; if any at all. She slides her arm out of Isabelle's so she could unbutton her bag and sift around inside, hands running through cloth after cloth until finally she heard a jingle, a small velvet piece of fabric tied together with a string hitting her hand. When she lifted it out of her bag she was pleased to find it rather heavy. Her mother must have put all of their money in her bag in case they got separated... it sent a ripple of pain through Clary's chest.

"Here," The other girl now held a pair of snow boots in her face, trying to pull her out of the trance she had been sucked into. "These will do. I know a coat too, try those on and follow me." She pushed them into the girl's hands and while she tried to juggle things Isabelle dragged Simon off to another stall. She could hear him stammering a little bit, saying he didn't have boots yet and Isabelle just giggled like she wasn't really listening to anything he was saying.

Out of the corner of her eye she could still see Alec a few feet behind her with his arms crossed and his eyes pointed at his sister, carefully watching her and ignoring Clary's existence. She wanted to ask why he didn't just follow his sibling but she knew the answer already: he was told to watch her like she was some thieving child. How ridiculous.

She set her things down in the snow while she kicked her sandals off and quickly tried the boots on, pleased to see that they fit, though with a little extra room but that was preferred to the alternative of them being too small to breathe in. The immediate warmth that hit her chilled toes made her sigh. She moved to dig through her bag for some socks and then put them and the boots on again but after that she could happily put her sandals away and indulge herself in this heat. "How much are these? They're so warm." She asked the elderly woman at the stall, her wrinkles crinkling upwards in a soft smile.

"Ten coins," The elder answered, happy to see Clary immediately begin to pull out the correct amount. "I make them all, I'm glad you like them."

"I do, here's twenty... I want these too for my friend." She dropped the coins in her hand and then reached for a pair for Simon who had likely been too bewitched by Isabelle to grab some. "Thank you."

"Thank _you_." Even though everyone seemed suspicious of her this woman acted kind. Perhaps it was the money.

Before following after her best and new friend she turned abruptly, eyes landing guiltily on Alec. She marched towards him, bag of coins in hand and her head pointed high so she could meet his sharp gaze. As she got close he finally looked at her, chin turning down as dark hazel stared into her emerald. "Alec," she began, this heavy breath being pulled inside of her chest as he said nothing and only waited with an unimpressed look on his face. "I'm sorry... about what I said. You're obviously not happy about having to watch me and I get it but I didn't _do_ anything to you."

"If you know you didn't do anything then why are you taking things a stranger is saying so personally and behaving like a child?"

"How am I behaving like a child, you don't even know me?" She shot back.

"And I don't want to."

She sighed, mouth tightening as she bit down on her tongue hard enough to taste iron. "I tried." She spat, shooting daggers back at him before spinning around to walk over to the others. She could hear Alec trailing behind, the snow crunching under both of their weight.

"Here, Simon." As he turned around to smile at her she handed off the boots, laughing gleefully as he hurriedly put them on and sighed like he had just stepped into a sauna after a long day. She put his other pair of shoes in the bag now too, "You like?"

"I love. It's like a little piece of heaven on my feet."

"And here's some for your arms!" The raven haired beauty cheered, handing two baby blue coats off to them, soft wool or some kind of fur padding the insides of the sleeves and hoods. "Put your money away Clary, these are a gift from me. Welcome to the southern Water Tribe and all that."

"You don't have to do that, but thanks."

"I know, aren't I just a saint?" Isabelle chuckled, rolling her eyes softly at the redhead as if saying not to worry about it. As Clary smiles and shoves her money away, finally buttoning her bag back up, she hears Alec laugh again but this time it seemed genuine- though his eyes were only on his sister.

"When did they change the definition of the word?" He quirked a brow playfully even if she could still hear a hint of irritation in his tone. 

Isabelle gasped, walking over to him with a purpose under her feet and her brother raised his crossed arms, blocking his face from any blow so she punched him hard in the chest, this thick echoing sound as her fist connected. "Shut up, are you done pouting?" Just the question caused him to slide that frown back on his face, his sister sliding her arms around his torso and pressing their bodies together in a one sided hug, her head staring up at him with her chin digging into his chest.

"I'm not pouting." He responded flatly, the very definition of pouting. He patted her back just twice before prying her off of him and crossing his arms again, keeping her from hugging him. 

"Fine, stay upset all you want but I want to take them to the caves."

"No, Izzy." He protests right away, giving her a warning look while the guests just stared at them, Clary wondering what the caves were. "We don't have time, this isn't supposed be you having fun we were told to watch them and then send them on their way so they get on their damn boat in time."

"What caves?" Clary jumps in and earning a swift eye roll from Alec. "I want to see them, I've never been in a cave."

"And you won't ever be."

"Yes you will." Isabelle defies his wishes, ignoring the way he huffs like he was on the verge of throwing the biggest tantrum. "Alec and I used to play in them when we were little and pretend we-"

"We're not going. They'll miss their boat, Isabelle." He traded that previous nickname in for his sister to something stern, "Mom will kill you."

"You won't let her." She waved her sibling off, reaching again for Clary and Simon, attaching herself to both of them and gliding past the market stalls, all of the people still watching them walk by. For a moment she didn't think Alec was going to follow, Clary's head craning just slightly to watch him struggle with a decision, mouthing a few curse words before stomping off too yet this time he didn't trail behind. He was very tall, and his longer legs allowed him to catch up easily.

"When we get there you have five minutes." He stood next to Simon, on Isabelle's opposite side to Clary, though not directly next to him and rather a few feet to the side.

At first Clary had thought Alec was just being unpleasant by putting them on a strict time limit but by the time they could see the large stone structure off in the distance it was after they trekked up small hills of snow, the land underneath them lost and their feet making constant crunching the whole way, and long empty stretches were past them, it had surely before a half an hour or more and Clary remembers being told that their boat was only staying for an hour or so. How long had they spent in the market place? She was trying to count up all of the minutes they had left in her head but by the time they were walking inside of the large, stories high, curved stone archway, she had forgotten all about it. Clary and Simon practically broke their necks trying to look all the way up at the frozen water crystals hanging harmlessly from the very top, some of them hanging down low enough to be three or four feet above Alec's head. The breeze flew around them and made this eerie whooshing sound as it blew past them, their clothes and hair swirling in slow circles around their still bodies.

"Oh my god, how did you guys find this place when you were little if it's so far from your Tribe?" Clary was mesmerized as her best friend walked past to look everywhere he could while they still had the time.

"We didn't, our brother did." Alec answered, albeit he wasn't rude, just swift like he was counting down the minutes right then.

"Jace. He used to run away and explore all the time," Isabelle began to answer her like a _human_. "He used to give our mom a heart attack. He'd be gone for hours and when he got back she'd scream about how worried she was." She looked almost forlorn for a moment, this barely audible sigh falling from her lips as she glanced around. Almost as if experiencing a memory. "He found this one day and brought Alec and I with the next... then we spent almost every day here." She kicked up some clumps of snow near her feet, some emotion sparkling in her eyes.

There was a question trying to leap off of Clary's tongue but she didn't want to be rude or upset her new friend. "Where... is your brother?" She asks carefully, head turning slightly towards Isabelle.

"He's at a southern Air Temple." Alec answered once more, a slight noise of warning as he answered this though. Clary looked over at him now as he was crouched down, not looking at them, and playing with some frozen droplets of water. He melted them and then froze them again into new lopsided shapes. So he _was_ able to waterbend.

"He's an airbender." His sister supplied nonchalantly even though it was likely she knew that there would be a new question on Clary's mind now.

"Aren't airbenders extinct?" Simon beat her to the punch, all of them looking over at him as he was examining the frozen crystals sticks up out of the ground, one finger poking the sharp tip of one close to him.

"Obviously not." Alec was unimpressed with this comment, straightening himself out and kicking at his freshly made lumps of ice.

"But the firebenders killed them all they said. Went in and burned them in their own temples." He tilted his head in thought, "So why go to an Air Temple? Even if you're an airbender, they're all supposed to be empty."

"I'm not an airbender, so _I don't know_. But my brother _is_ and he's alive and _at_ an Air Temple, is that too hard for you to grasp?" Alec shot a look at Simon irritably, stalking off towards the front of the cave as if he's prepared to leave right now and Simon just flipped him off behind his back: causing Clary to laugh and try to cover it up with the palm of her hand.

"So... how old do you think this thing is?" Clary asked Isabelle conversationally while also trying to get that look of despair off of her face. It looked like she was missing her other brother. Was he about as pleasant as Alec was?

"Probably thousands of years... hey, Simon. Want to see something cool?" She smirked over at him, apparently finding her own way to lighten the mood rather than discuss the age of some big, hollow rock.

"Uh, yes, yeah- sure." He made a gesture with his hand like he was enthusiastically encouraging her to continue.

"I used to do this when I was little maybe it'll be bigger now..." She spoke to herself, legs in a stance that was greater apart now, her palms facing upwards as she did this flick of her wrists, body turning left and then back again as she shot her arms up, the cave rumbling in protest to something as the large water crystals began to shake, melting into a light rain before Isabelle made a sound of concentration and lifted her arms down and then back up again, transforming that light rain into a more lively snow. Simon and Clary were laughing gleefully and catching cotton swab sized flakes on their tongues and in the palms of their hands.

The three of them were covered in white fluffs of joy until the structure groaned again, this time in a response to seemingly nothing- Alec was rushing forward and that caught Clary's eye, "Izzy!" He shouted, hands thrusting out to take control of falling crystals, the things prepared to impail his sister. He melted them and knocked her to the side, many buckets full worth of water hitting them and the ground, soaking through their heavy coats. Isabelle yelped as he knocked into her, the two of them falling over a spike in the floor, slicing open Alec's hand as he landed on top of Isabelle. 

She gasped for breath as he groaned, cradling his hand to his chest as she began to forcefully shove him off out of reflex. "Are you okay!?" Clary called out to them, prepared to head over to them until she heard a ripping noise, like the sound of the earth tearing open during an earthquake. She looked up in horror as the cavern seemed to collapse in on itself at the very peak of its arch. Clary watched as the first enormous piece broke off and came collapsing down on the four of them.

"No!" Clary screeched with her hands up like she could possibly catch this caravan sized boulder and folding in on herself, the last thing she saw was Simon do the same, hands covering his head, and Alec rolling back on top of Isabelle and covering her face with his hands, even the bloody one- prepared to take this whole heavy blow for his sister even though they would both perish.

The very moment the heavy, cold rock touched Clary's hands, still held up high, she felt it completely disappear from her touch, as if transported away, and she looked up immediately, this nervous pounding in her chest like she was about to look up and see it falling all over again. The boulder wasn't the same, instead it was broken up, hundreds of small floating pieces just sitting there and hovering in the air all over them, no piece bigger than a small rock.

"How did you do that!" Alec demanded to know, breaking Clary out of this seemingly impenetrable layer of awe and making all of the small stones rain down on them, a few smacking her in the head but that was nothing compared to her previously about to become a human version of toothpaste being squeezed out of its casing. "How the fuck did you do that Clary!"

She dropped her hands and let her arms become limp at her sides, falling down on her ass while Simon rushed over to her and threw his arms around her, his body still shaking with the fear of almost being crushed to death. She looked over at Alec and didn't know what to say, just breathed jaggedly. She didn't truly know how she had done that, the only earthbending she's been able to accomplish before was in a sandbox when she and Simon were children, barely there little walls for their doll house, never before had she demolished a building sized boulder into pebbles. "I... I-" She tried, shaking her head and shrugging her shoulders like she was at a loss for words. Of course she was well aware of her status as the one and only Avatar, but how she truly did _that_ was utterly lost on the small girl.

Alec rolled off of Isabelle and helped his sister up off of the icy ground. She wiped dirt off of her pants, her legs trembling slightly while Alec's whole body was unwavering, only angered rolled through him and Clary couldn't figure out why, as he approached her she watched the way small crimson drops fell from his cut palm. "You're a liar! You're not a waterbender, tell me how you tricked my mother." He pressed, standing in front of her with a harsh glare.

"Excuse me? I just saved your life and you're yelling at me for it?" She scoffed, her mouth falling open in shock. Simon pulled away from the hug and instead gripped her arms from behind so he could help her stand, his fingers curling in on the coat surrounding her and making sure to stay there until he knew she was steady. "Gee, _thanks Clary for saving me, otherwise my sister and I would have been **mush**_." She tried to mock his voice as best as she could, earning the first glare from Isabelle since she'd gotten here.

"He's right, I don't know how you did that, Clary. I saw you waterbend for my mom." Her tone was hard, matching her brother's and in that moment, identical dagger-sharp glares, she could see how they were related (if looks weren't enough). "How can you be a waterbender and an earthbender? That's not possible."

Before she could make something up or release a breath of defeat Simon was coming to her defense, stepping in front of her as if she needed protecting and squaring his shoulders. "That's what's on your mind? Not the fact that _you_ just almost made us soup? I want to show them the cave, wanna see something cool?" He mocked her childishly, just as Clary had done to Alec moments ago. "Who knew we should have listened to _The Thing_ instead." He scoffed, gesturing to Alec fearlessly.

Isabelle looked taken aback, "I didn't mean to and I didn't lie! I told you I wanted to show you guys and Clary agreed, all we're asking for now is honesty."

Simon took a breath, prepared to retort, but Clary put a comforting hand on his arm, nudging him gently to her side instead of looking as if still hiding behind him. She loved Simon and was grateful to have him here, on her side, but Isabelle was right... and if their boat was gone by now the only way a favor of another could be done now was with trust. "I'm sorry, Isabelle, I _am_ , but I couldn't just go around telling everyone who am I, it's no one's business but my own." The dark haired girl's face shifted from hostile to curious, listening carefully with what looked to be a more open-minded approach now that they were back to a level of calm rather than adrenaline pumping terror. "I... I'm the Avatar."

There was a beat of silence, no one making any move to speak until Alec laughed something aggressive. "Get out."

"Alec," Isabelle tried but he held a hand out, cutting her off.

"Get out of our Tribe and go wherever the hell that boat was supposed to take you, the Avatar? I don't need the Fire Nation knocking down our door and killing our people because you just needed to stop here for some fucking snow boots. My whole family is here!"

She flinched, the elder male encroaching on her space and trying to stare down at her with some kind of intimidation. "I'm not trying to hurt anyone!"

Isabelle snaked in between them, both of her hands on Alec's chest as he just looked down at her, barely bothering to change that horrible, nasty look on his face that made his lip snarl. "Alec, wait." She shifted herself slowly until she was able to create more space between them, nudging her brother back just a few more inches. "If Clary's the Avatar we have to let her stay!"

"What?" The three of them asked at once, all of them some kind of stunned.

"Clary..." She faced her now, one hand on her forearm while the other gently pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and knocking it off of her shoulder until it was pooling in the hood of her coat. "If you're the Avatar you're the only one who can stop this war. The Avatar is supposed to keep the peace between the elements! You can stop the Firelord! Maybe our Tribe can help you get to where you need to be to do it."

Before the obvious eldest could retort, Clary moved to decline herself. "No, Izzy I can't," The nickname she'd heard Alec use slipped out while she was overwhelmed with admiration. "I wish I could but I... I don't really know how to bend every element. I can only firebend and... do very, very little waterbending, and I _really_ don't know how I did that to that rock. Please don't get me started on airbending because I don't even know how to go about that."

"You can't even bend all the elements?" Alec seemed appalled.

Izzy ignored him, throwing an irritated glance over her shoulder before turning back to Clary. "Jace is learning how to master airbending right now... and Alec and I learned waterbending from a Master in the North Pole! We can at least go and _try_." Her voice held a tone of begging as she bounced up and down on her toes likes she was truly excited of just the idea.

"Izzy," Alec gripped her arm, turning her around to face him now. "We can just give her a map and send her on her way to the North Pole, and some... random Air Temple. We don't have to go with her and do anything. We don't even have to do _that_."

"Alec aren't you sick of rolling over for the Fire Nation? You say it all the time and now we have an opportunity where we can do something about it and you don't want to?"

"We can't just _leave_. Mom needs us here."

"Mom will want to know she's the Avatar, she'll understand! She'll want us to go!"

"You clearly don't remember who our mother is." His eyes widened at her, like he was pretending to be afraid of what she was saying... and maybe he was. 

Clary decided to jump in again, grabbing a hold of Isabelle's arm, yet instead of turning her new friend around again she pulled herself and got next to Alec, ignoring the look he gave her. "You know where a Master waterbender is? And you really think Jace would help me airbend?"

"Yes!"

"No."

The two siblings answered simultaneously, causing both of them to sigh. " _Yes_ , to both of those things. We should go, Clary. We could teach you every element in time to kick Fire Nation ass before they take over and help every family they've destroyed and every village they've burned. All those airbenders... Jace will never know his birth family or where he came from because of them. He'll teach you airbending and then all we'll need is an earthbender!"

"Luke." She and Simon said at once, her best friend playfully punching her in the arm when they did so. "I know an earthbender, he used to live with my mom and I until the Fire Nation attacked where his family was living in the Earth Kingdom and he had to go back and help them."

"Is he even alive, then?" Alec deadpanned.

"Yeah, he writes to us." Clary responded right away without any malice in return, too busy dreaming up all that could be done to help her stop her father, which brought her mind wandering over back into the lying territory from before brought up by her friends. Would they need to know that her father was the Firelord or would that only put Alec further on the opposition side of this argument? She didn't see him warming up to her any quicker with that information right now- not that she needed Alec's approval for anything but she didn't see Isabelle coming with if he didn't either. And yet honesty was the best policy, wasn't it? "But... guys there's-" Clary was cut off though not by Alec nor falling rocks this time, instead by that disgustingly familiar sound of heavy, flying ships going past them. They all looked up through the hole in the cave, seeing the tail end of the metal ship go by, that dark red emblem of the Fire Nation printed on it staring down at them as it goes by.

"Oh, shit." Alec drops his hand from Izzy's arm and the four of them run out into the blasting chill of the snow, feet hitting the ground at a quickened pace as they see one ship headed towards the southern Water Tribe and another already preparing to land. "No!" He shouts, flying past them and running downhill towards the tribe, kicking up snow behind him until he decides to let it move _him_ , taking his hands and flicking them in a semi-circle until all the snow around his feet has shifted into it's liquid form and is carrying him at a pace he wouldn't be able to reach on his own. 

"Come on!" Isabelle cries, a desperate tone clawing it's way out of her throat and Clary thought, just for a second, that this is what she must have looked like just the other night. When everything was about to be ripped away from _her_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading ! i plan to update this fic semi-regularly until it's completion, which might be spotty due to school & family things, but thank you for being patient & comments with criticism & compliments are deeply appreciated & always welcome ! these first few chapters are me setting up the pace & setting for the story so i hope you enjoy :)


	3. Book One: Water | Part III

The ground beneath them was shaking, not in the way Isabelle made the snow glide along to follow after her brother, but like there were anchors, bombs, pounds and pounds of things being thrown into the earth. As they slide down hills that seemed like Mount Everest when they were climbing up them, Clary felt like they were nothing now, that they barely even existed when compared to Isabelle's desperation, the hitching sound of her panting breaths beside Clary's close ear.

Alec was a few feet ahead of them, the way his body was twisting and propelling itself forward while his arms hastily guided the element along with him made it seem as if he was flying without wings, flapping like a terrified bird. At this downhill speed they were approaching the Tribe again quickly, Simon wobbling on Isabelle's other side, gripping onto her shoulders rather than her arms so she didn't hinder her bending while also keeping himself from tumbling over backwards. Their hair was whirling, strands of their new companions raven locks repeatedly stabbing Clary in the eyes though she didn't care right now, paid no mind to the slight prick of tears that stung them every few seconds due to it's attack.

Alec came to a skidding halt just a few seconds before them, fire likely lighting up some of the interior wooden structures because there was burning black smoke in the air, thick and foggy enough to look almost weighed down despite its steadily rising tower. Clary and Simon coughed as they pushed through the outer edges of the Tribe, people cowering behind their homes and screaming coming from the center. 

The airship that flew past them in the cave approached right as they did but made no move to empty its troops, just stood in wait as the first team took control- though if Clary knew any better she would dare to think that they still had their engine running because they were prepared for a chase this time. Not again would they escape via boat. 

"Mom!" Alec shouted, shoving people he's likely known his whole life out of the way as they all ran the way the four of them had just come from, crowds and crowds of their people trying to get away before they lost their lives like they feared they would. When the bonfire pit was in sight it was clear that was source of that towering tunnel of thick black smoke, that's where the Fire Nation decided to station themselves, piles and piles of their torches added to the already existing flames and not burning _homes_ like Clary had assumed before. She wondered why they weren't using the same procedure here as they did in Clary and Simon's village. The snow maybe?

When Alec's heels dug into the ground, arms thrusted out to his sides, that's when they all froze too, the three of them hitting his outstretched limbs. "Hide." He commanded with a tone that meant no arguing. He turned abruptly and gripped his sister's arm gently, tugging her aside and to her slight shock he grabbed Clary softly too. Simon followed, since the eldest didn't have enough hands to get a hold of him too, as they hid themselves behind one of the market stalls, crouching down and peaking out at the firebenders.

They formed two long lines out, horizontally, in front of the fire pit- but there was one stepping out in front of them all, standing there tall and confident in front of a caught group of the local waterbenders, the sibling's mother in front of them all and staring back at him like he was an animated garbage pile roaming the earth. The presumed fire general's coat was decorated with flashy pins and dark ruby strings winding down his chest, his dark hair had one long red streak running through it, tall enough that Clary could see it as it curled up into the back of his head. When he turned around briefly, eyes surveying the landscape just once more cautiously, she felt her breath catch. He looked intimidating, his brown eyes defined by harsh black lines and more red painting his lids. It was an almost feminine look, like Clary would see it on Isabelle, but he was built. Broad and powerful under that Fire Nation uniform. The Avatar wanted to ask Alec who he thought that man could be, as he seemed knowledgeable from the few conversations she's had with him, but when she looked over at him his mouth was just slightly agape too, this unreadable look in his eyes as if he was trying to decipher what was in front of him. Was he staring at his fearless mother or was he much more captivated by that flashy firebender?

She craned her head back some more, eyes catching Isabelle as she and Simon were huddled together, just as she and Alec were, against the other side of the stall so they too could peak out at the scene. "He's a general or something isn't he?" She whispered almost timidly, earning a harsh _sh_ from Alec.

"Be quiet." He demanded, voice no louder than hers had been. Now that's more like it.

She rolled her eyes and shifted her focus back towards the enemy as she heard him begin to address the Tribe. "Southern Water Tribe!" He called out, head moving back and forth so Clary could only assume he was scanning over the crowd like he would be able to find who he was looking for. He wouldn't, not there. His head stopped on the matriarch, hands falling open at his sides as if feigning peace. "You must be the matriarch." He nodded at her and she could feel Alec stiffen at her side.

His mother pushed herself even further out of the crowd, head held high. "I am Maryse Lightwood. Why have you come here to my Tribe with no warning? You've frightened my people and put your troops in our core like you've already taken over! You are not welcome here like this!"

"Forgive me, I'm Fire Nation commander Magnus Bane... but you're harboring a person of interest to the Fire Nation. She arrived here on a ship and she was not aboard when we stopped it before crossing borders." He called back, shoulders shrugging as his head cocked to the side, his hips swaying side to side as he spoke to her. Clary felt her blood run cold and no longer was it the chilling breeze that gave her violent shivers. She felt as if she'd heard that name before somewhere. Had her mother warned her of him once perhaps? Was it during one of the early nights she could barely remember, sitting in her mothers lap and twirling a strand of her amber hair between her little fingers and questioning why they had to run away from daddy? "We have no reason to believe she is anywhere else." He held his hand out to one of the troops beside him expectantly, fingers curling around a scroll being handed to him before the troop went back into a proper stance. He flicked his wrist downwards, the paper unrolling, and let Maryse get a look at whatever was on it. Her jaw seemed to clench, hands balling into fists. "Have you seen Clarissa Morgenstern?"

She knew then that it must have been a carefully drawn image of her and perhaps her mother too. She imagined that sketch of her on the other side and knew that it couldn't possibly be a smile on her face. Alec yanked his head away from the opening alarmingly fast and she flinched as he grabbed her with him, his fingers practically digging into her small arm through the coat rather than how he gently had before. Her eyes were wide and his were wild with anger running around rampant inside of him. If he was a firebender she wouldn't be surprised if his hair set itself aflame right now. " _Clarissa Morgenstern?!_ " He hissed, his sister trying to silently pry his hand away. "As in Valentine Morgenstern? The Firelord?" His jaw was as rigid as carved ice and for a few moments she was just too stunned to respond. This hadn't been how she wanted them to find out this information. She had _planned_ on telling them and that had been ripped from her just like everything else.

"Alec," Isabelle tried, yet the look she shot at Clary made it obvious that she was feeling a rush of irritation as well.

"Another lie." He gritted out, spitting it in his sisters direction before turning his face back to Clary. "It's like you're **trying** to kill us."

"No," she urged, using both of her hands to pry Alec's fingers off of her though she had a hunch that he was the one who decided to release his constricting grip and not her. "I was trying to tell you back at the cave but the airships came, I couldn't. I didn't want this!" She mumbled as contained as she possibly could. The two of them stared at her with opposite emotions. Isabelle seemed complacent with that while Alec looked as if containing a scoff of disbelief. Simon lurched forward, head craning to look at Alec like he had some defense to add but there was no time.

"I had no idea," Maryse Lightwood's voice rang through the area again and the irritable waterbender was no longer interested in this right now. He shoved past her to get another peak and just as he, the others followed, returning back to their place to eavesdrop. "that girl was the Firelord's child. I only thought she was one of those people..." Her brow bent, lips pursed like there was something on the tip of her tongue she wished to grant relief. Was she going to question why Clary could waterbend? Was she already trying to put pieces together? _Please,_ Clary's mind pleaded. _Don't say it_.

The **commander** made a noise like a hum of pleasure, likely glad to hear she did indeed come through here. "We can rectify this, matriarch Lightwood. All I need to know is where she went because it was not back on that ship." He rolled that scroll up with an unnecessary amount of flourish, twirling the paper and letting it come to rest back in the troops hand, and then tucked into the back pocket of his uniform.

Clary's fingers dug into the snow, clenching a ball of it into her fists like she had to have some sort of stress ball to give just a small jolt of peace when her mind was feeling as if it was prepared to collapse in on itself. What if she ran out there now, would no harm come to these people? Or was there no harm anyways, was this commander one of conversation rather than punishment? Was that even possible or were all of these words just delaying the inevitable?

"She..." That slight pause made Magnus Bane tilt his head back just a small bit but Clary could feel a possible scrutinizing gaze even while he wasn't facing her. She could hear Alec curse quietly beside her, he leaned up just barely on his haunches, like he was prepared to dash out there to protect his mother at any moment. "Went out into the market place while I spoke to the crewmen of that ship. I didn't have time to watch her while I made sure none of my Tribes critical supplies were going to be stolen." As she mentioned the market place her dark eyes scanned it and right in that second they met hers. Maryse Lightwood's mouth dropped only barely, just like she was going to speak again rather than feeling shock, and she looked away just as quickly as she had caught her, and likely her son's, eyes.

The three of them must have caught it just as she did because they all hid away completely now, their backs pressed up against the stable wood. "She knows. She saw us!" Simon whined in a murmur.

"Good, she can keep them away." Isabelle reasoned, but her words didn't sound confident like she probably planned them to. Just tentative.

"We're going to get our mother killed for a little girl that can't even bend." Alec spoke with no concern for Clary's feelings in mind, as was starting to look like the patter. It made the Avatar sigh something heavy in her chest. "We can't expect to stay hidden like this."

"So what, we run somewhere else like they won't see us?" Clary snapped, the amount of effort it took to keep quiet was a great deal.

"No," he spat back. "I'm not stupid, just stating the obvious."

"Check." It was a biting, commanding word coming from the commander. It ceased all conversation between the four of them. Perhaps while they were hidden away he had been surveying the market stalls from his position many feet away. Clary could see Isabelle grip Alec's shoulder out of the corner of her eye.

"Why must you send your troops further into my Tribe?" Maryse called out, and Clary wished greatly to be able to peer out there and see what was going on but instead her eyes had to just fall to the ground, dirty snow and her frozen fingers gripping it, holding all of her sights attention. They were at the farthest stall, if one just quickly entered the circle he would see nothing but if they walked around and combed the place they would most definitely catch a glimpse inside the backs of each stall and see them tucked underneath this one. "You can already see that she must have ran away. She had been here for hours and even after the ship left I did not see her and if she was not there then she cannot still be here either. I would have come across her." There was an edge of defensiveness in her tone, like images of her children being held accountable for hiding Clary were coming to the forefront of her mind- she wondered if that would have the mother crippled with fear or if she'd cause a tsunami.

"If you haven't seen her again then why not allow me to help you check? You... would be doing the Fire Nation a great service if you assist us in the search." The way he paused now, as if not happy with his own word choice, he must have known that she nor any other Tribe, Kingdom, or Temple cared to aid the Fire Nation. She wished to see what Maryse's face looked like. 

"Why would I ever wish to do that?" She almost sounded like she was going to laugh in the commanders face. "Why would _anyone_ wish to assist you people when your Lord has brought nothing but war? We can't even safely transport goods to the Earth Kingdom without our ships being searched or seized entirely!" The water matriarch began to challenge him and Alec shifted his body around completely, still crouched, his forehead was pressed against the wooden stall back like he was trying to see through it. "Now the Firelord cannot even find his daughter on his own but expects us all to help deliver her? I don't think so. Not here, not in my Tribe."

"What is she going to do?" Clary whispered to Alec, releasing a hand of snow so she could push her bag strap back up her arm securely. "She won't fight them will she?"

"I don't know." A rushed answer wasn't rude, but more like he was hurrying to mull it over himself. "I... don't think so. I don't want her to." He wasn't looking at Clary still but she could see his inner struggle, like he was still torn between staying hidden or shoving this wooden hiding place aside like it was nothing and going out there with his mother.

"You don't think mom could win?" Isabelle sounded offended, or maybe concerned- like if he said no that would convince her too that they were doomed.

"No." It was a plain answer but it made Clary's heartbeat race with worry. "She's one person and he has a fucking... _brigade_ , Isabelle."

"She has us... Clary, the whole Tribe. She's not alone either." 

"How many of them do you think can firebend, Iz?" The question was heavy with scrutiny as he turned away from the wood to look at his sister. "All of them. How many people can waterbend here? Fifty percent and half of them just ran that way." He motioned behind them and swiftly turned back to his previous position, the sound of the Fire Nation commander taking a breath probably catching his attention just as it did to Clary.

"This goes beyond your Tribe now. This is Fire Nation business and we cannot have his daughter out here. He wants her at the palace with him and his wife." Clary's head whipped around to stare out at the very edge of the stall, every fiber of her being tempted to glance out at the interaction once more. His wife? No... no way she was aware of this. No way was Clary's mother involved in this search. Even though she was reluctant to believe it... maybe her mother had only been captured. Maybe there was a chance she could be saved. "I have no choice but to search further with or without your permission."

There was a beat of silence, like the two authority figures were only staring at each other across that patch of white fluff, and then there was a controlled rhythm of boots crunching into the ground... in small rows maybe. Like some of those troops broke off with a simple gesture from their commander.

Simon began to breathe raggedly, "Uh guys? Plan... should we have one those? Like, now? Probably?"

Isabelle gripped his hand, trying to comfort him since Clary could only give him a look of encouragement while being on the complete opposite side of him, and looked to Alec. "If they come around the sides we freeze the snow, ice it."

He nodded in deep but rushed thought, "Shove the stall into one side, take down the other hand to hand if we have surprise on our side." He moved his head back and forth as if weighing the probably of that working.

"I can firebend." Clary shoved in, looking between the two of them like she was waiting to be assigned a task.

"Actually?" Alec asked almost offensively, but Clary didn't argue, she just nodded. "Deflect anything coming at us then. Don't let us get burned. Can you do that?" His eyes were hard, the words sounding like he was exasperated, like she was already failing him.

"Why do you have to do that? _Yes,_ I can do that." Before they could launch themselves into a full blown argument they heard those footsteps getting closer, like they had come around in a full circle and were quickly honing in on them. The thumping of her heart went a million times faster but she put her hands up in front of her, prepared to derive power from that huge bonfire too many feet behind them.

Alec and Isabelle were on the same page, she watched them free their hands too, no longer were Alec's pressed against wood and Isabelle didn't hold onto Simon to comfort him anymore. "Okay," Alec started, his eyes darting left and right, "Okay. N-" He was cut off just as he saw their troops legs coming into view, both small groups being blown back with the heavy force of the flying wood of the other stalls smacking into them and snow flying around in a flurry of motion that wasn't natural. The troops all cried out in groans, some laid out in front of them, their backs clashing with the ground and making it thump heavily. 

They all froze as one of the firebenders slowly craned his heavy head up and looked Clary directly in the eyes though before he could speak, announce their location, Isabelle moved quickly, thrust her arms out, melting the element and making him submerge under who knows how much water. It rippled as he struggled, some of it smacking Clary in the face before Izzy decided to ice it over, trap him. Kill him. They could hear the sound of crackling, violent embers behind them, like the bonfire pit was on the move, and then it was being flung at them. A lively ball of fire smashed against the back of their stall and blew it open in two like it was nothing, a simple crack down it's center. They all bent forward and protected their heads with both of their hands so no pieces of wood would knock them unconscious. "Shit!" Clary yelped, sounding like a kicked dog.

"Alec! Isabelle!" They could hear Maryse shout, no longer did her voice sound like that reserved, ice woman. It was shrill now, strung out and left to dry as she watched an attack be launched at her children. The four of them turned around, wasting no time with staying crouched down and Alec was the first to act, this blast of icicles raising off of the ground, just like the ones in the collapsing cave, and he launched them out at the commander's remaining troops. They thought quickly too, drawing power from the bonfire and used their whole bodies to slide fire off into the air, blocking them off and immediately swallowing up the ice and melting it into nothing but water drops. Maryse was the one to retaliate next, this immediate twitching of her arms like she wouldn't allow them to strike back at her kids. She shifted the snow beneath the commander like an avalanche without the mountain, swirling it up into this thickening vortex around him, wanting it to be able to concave on him when she deemed it high enough, powerful enough to crush him to death. The troops did not turn towards this commotion though, instead they shot their own attack back at the four of them. Alec and Isabelle combined their bending to raise a wall of ice, a thick and almost seeming impenetrable though it only took three or so large blasts for the sheet to begin to deteriorate. 

Clary planted her feet into the ground, snow boots heavy and leaving indents beneath her small weight. With that fire nearby she collected some in her veins, feeling that thick, familiar thrum of power surging through her bones and just as the ice was broken through she swiped a sideways motion, colliding with the fire balls being flung and knocking them off of their intended path- instead making sure her own fire swallowed it up. The two dark haired waterbenders backed up, looking over at Clary like they were surprised. She repeated this action in the other direction as more soaring balls of flame came at them again and this time she stomped forward, launching some back. "Did you get burned?" She shot at Alec, this cocky look on her face as she finally got an eye roll from him that seemed more playful than angry. Progress.

The matriarchs blizzard came to it's climax as she brought her arms down, fists balling up as it toppled in on itself on top of Magnus Bane, his troops could feel the tremor and launched themselves away from the snowfall. The commander stood still though, almost like he wasn't afraid, and that bonfire literally shifted this time, coming forward in an orange arch, like when waves of the ocean came crashing in, curling on itself and sending the waterbenders attack catapulting. The fire protected him like a bubble, and when the snow took the heated blast there was a sizzling sound, thick fog rolling out over them like they were all in a kitchen as something frozen was being dropped into a vat of burning oil. The gust of wind knocked Simon back on his ass, his head smacking against the snow like a brick to concrete. "Simon! Are you okay?" Clary shoved past the others and fell beside him, cradling his head carefully as he just groaned at her, unable to say much but it was enough to let Clary know he was alive; which was what mattered.

"No!" Isabelle screamed, and Clary's head turned in time just to see Alec breaking away from them and rushing forward. "No, Alec!" Clary followed him with her eyes as she watched Isabelle race off too and she knew why when her emerald hues caught onto Maryse, the fire back-lashing and coming to crash against anyone close enough. The mother of her new companions was caught up in the blow, a swarm of heat burning just a bit brighter as it set her clothes alight and likely her hair too. When she hit the ground there was another hum of sizzling, the snow putting out the fire but could not undo whatever damage had just been done. She sucked in a breath of worry as she watched the siblings get caught, their arms being held behind them by the firebending troops. The commander turned to look at them, a look of mutual shock on his face, almost mirroring Clary's entirely. Why did he look like that when he surely knew the destruction he had been about to cause? He knew he had come here to terrorize just to find the Avatar?

He looked between the two of them, shaking his head, mouth open like he was unable to explain himself. "You son of a bitch!" Isabelle snapped, her mouth wide and foaming with erupting anger, pretty red lips curling into a snarl that rivaled her brother's. 

"Simon, get up." Clary tried to pull him up unsuccessfully, her friend not doing anything but slumping further into her grip like she was rocking him to sleep rather than attempting to get him up. Her thoughts were flying around inside her head like she couldn't think yet all she was doing was that. How would they escape? It was like her village all over again, no Talika to come to her rescue. _Or_... "Tali!" Clary cried, dropping her hands from Simon's head to yank her bag from her shoulder and force the button open almost hard enough to tear it from it's stitching completely. She began to frantically sift through clothing items and sacks of books and crushed scrolls of information she did not yet know because she hadn't exactly had the chance to look through everything her mother packed when she was constantly being distracted. "Please, _please_... tell me you did. Tell me you packed it mom." she whined, hearing yelling and groans of emotional agony coming from the two waterbenders she had just only got to know. When her already icy fingers felt the brush of something even cooler touch her knuckles she twisted her hand around and yanked out a small, silver whistle. It was loud, this shrilling, almost unbearable sounding thing. It was likely why her mother hadn't just used it in the village to call Tali in the first place. It would have alerted every firebender to their position.

She stood from her crouched spot and pointed her head high in the air as she brought the slim whistle up to her lips and blew with all of her might, her ears popping with the harsh screech of it's call. She emptied her lungs into this sound, every last bit of air she could muster up to make sure she got it's complete worth. Some of the troops were covering their ears but the commander just yelled over the noise, something she couldn't hear, and then there was a few of them approaching, stomping their feet into the snow and lighting the palms of their hands up with flames like it was supposed to intimidate her. Alec had been more successful with just a glare. She pulled her mouth back from the whistle to begin inhaling another lung-full of oxygen before blowing again, bouncing on the tips of her toes nervously as nothing was happening. No Tali flying overheard to come to her rescue. 

Just as the troops closed in on her, one of them raising their hands of flames towards her, she watched closely as the fire crawled up his arms until completely engulfing the limbs and perching itself on his shoulders. Before she could suck up one more bellowing screech there was a stripe of fire being shot down from the sky, hitting the man on the back of the head and he hissed as it knocked him face first into the ground, the only thing keeping him alive was his fireproof uniform and his equally unbreakable helmet. The group of firebenders, along with Clary, looked up and she smiled something wide and genuine for the first time in a while. "Tali!" She cried, waving her arms back and forth as she bounced up and down on her feet. The flying feline hybrid's bumpy, black scales were familiar, how they rigged on her neck and crawled along her skin everywhere except her face. The way she swooped down, one wing closer to the ground while the other pointed sky-bound, was the closest thing to seeing home she's felt in what felt like years but was only hours. Talika roared, as if an irritable lion warning hyenas to back away from her prey as she swooped downwards, knocking the firebenders closest to Clary to the side, at least feet away from her position. Her pet landed right after, standing up on all four of her scaled legs, blocking them from her owner. Clary ran a hand along a patch of sticky flesh on her tail, silently thanking her. She slid around under her legs until she was able to get to Simon. "C'mon!" She groaned, yanking him up into a forced sitting position.

His eyes delicately fluttered open, landing directly on Talika and he just made a noise that sounded like a calm _huh_. "You found her..." He commented, sitting up slowly on his own until he was able to support himself on his knees, only wobbling forward for a split second. The ground shook in small tremors when Tali extended her neck out, snapping towards some of the firebenders and roared again, trying to intimidate. Fire curled around her teeth, licking at her gums and threatening to spill out in a fierce attack if prompted to.

"Get on her." She told her best friend, patting his back once before slinking back through her savior's legs until she was rushing forward, making a motion with her hands that looked like the conductor of an orchestra and Tali let loose, shooting out at the enemies not near her running owner. She made sure to go towards Alec and Isabelle so her pet wouldn't accidentally harm them. They were staring at her in awe and the troops that had been previously keeping them locked in place dropped their arms and rushed back, making sure to take stand behind their commander who looked like he had a billion things to say but didn't. "Didn't I mention I had a flying cat?"

"That's not a _cat_." Alec stated simply before pushing forward and walking past Clary to get behind her, staring out at what Clary was sure to be his mother. 

"We have to go." She pushed gently yet shouted over all of the commotion, speaking to both of them as the firebenders launched a few more shots at Talika only for her to swallow the flames and flick them back with her tongue, her tail taking a few of the bolts that she missed with her mouth. She watched as the two communicated silently, only sharing look after look. "If we leave they'll follow! They won't stay here, they'll leave your people alone, trust me." Isabelle made a noise of protest until Alec's eyes went wide and he jumped forward, bending the snow to block an attack flung at the back of his unsuspecting sister's head.

"Okay!" Isabelle agreed hurriedly, like her self-preservation instincts had just kicked in, running past them and soon Clary and Alec were following close behind, the sounds of attacks being launched at them smacking the ground just inches behind their feet with every step. 

"We have to check on mom!" Alec yelled to his sister as the got back up the hill and she and Clary began climbing onto the ginormous animal's body with it's help. Tali's tail sweeping them up until they were secure on her back. "We can't... we can't just leave her. I won't!" Clary was about to say they didn't have the time or numbers to take out all of the firebenders but Talika seemed to agree. She swiped Alec up with her tail as well, smacking him in the gut and cradling him there as she lifted him up until he had all of the air knocked out of him, leaving him gasping on his back as she kicked off of the ground and launched them into the air. She knew that when he caught his breath he would have more than something to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once more thanks for reading ! kudos & comments are deeply appreciated ! :)


	4. Book One: Water | Part IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i planned to have this chapter out sooner but I lost time and power for a few days due to a hurricane where i live thanks for the patience ! :)

There was a biting breeze whipping past Clary's face and painting her cheeks a flush red while they flew on Tali's back, her wings flapping and then promptly straightening out over and over to get as much distance between them and the southern Water Tribe as quickly as possible. Clary kept her steps heavy and even as she carefully stepped towards her preferred place to sit on Tali's back. That little notch of bone where the bottom of her neck met the wide expanse of her midnight colored back. She sat down, criss-cross, but faced her friends rather than the infinite, matte blue sky ahead of them. There was no beating light to make the open sky glossy from the day, it was blocked behind thick clouds that kept even a little heat from touching this arctic place. Clary took a rumbling breath, she was bracing herself for the worst of it. Whatever Alec had to say, when he could muster up the breath, wasn't going to be kind.

She watched the way he was laid out on his side, his back to her, but she could still see the way his body rose and fell with erratic attempts to inhale a full lung of air rather than spitting it out right away repeatedly, his body not allowing him to have the quick recovery he would likely be hoping for at the moment. She's been briefly knocked out before when Tali's tail had accidentally clipped her in the back of her head during a rather excited game of tag... she understands his pain. Her brows pucker in a wave of concern when she hears him cough, potent and wet in his throat like he had the flu, Isabelle finally uncrossing her arms and, just like her whole resolve crumbled, she went to Alec's side. His sister crouched down, hands laying on both his shoulder and back, trying to gently rub so he'd feel better. "Are you okay?"

That seemed to have somehow put all of the air back inside him, he shot upwards a little too quickly, making him teeter back on his knees, but he made sure to shove her hands off of him anyways. "You just left her." He spat, his gaze heavy with pounds of judgment. "You didn't even think twice, you just got on like you were happy to go." The look in his eyes now was one that made Clary shiver even though she wasn't the one he was looking at.

"I _was_ happy to go. We were getting attacked Alec, we couldn't just stay there," before he could decide on how he would like to crucify her for saying this she added on, "and you ran too."

"And then I stopped after realizing how completely insane of an idea it was to be forced out of our home while our mother could be dying. Or already **dead**... we didn't even get to check, Izzy." There was a grunt of anger, as usual, but Clary could hear that undertone of nothing but anguish. Like saying the words out loud made something inside of him ache. She understands that pain too.

"You think it was easy for me?" She sounded incredulous, like it was the most absurd thing that could be assumed. That hand placed over her chest, eyebrows tugged together and eyes wide, it was the epitome of an offended expression. "I just thought of what mom would say-"

"It wouldn't be 'leave me here to die'." He interrupted, this flippant tone in his voice overriding every previous trace of suffering. Clary wondered how he could do that, pretend not to feel it.

"I know that." She seemed to have to use every bit of restraint inside of her to not lose the control in her voice when speaking to him. Clary assumed it was years of practice. "It was, 'I want my kids to live'." The argumentative airspace faded for just a second, this tightening happening in both of their jaws, unwilling to truly fight but on very different sides of this obvious argument. 

Alec rolled his eyes at her, tongue running over his bottom lip, treating the torn skin there. He turned away from Isabelle to instead inspect his cut palm from the ice in the cave. It was a silent and uneasy truce.

Simon made a wrenching sound and Isabelle decided that she'd rather deal with air-sick Simon than her brother at the moment. Clary wondered if it was because he wouldn't take any help, any way out from the guilt he was feeling. But, why? She uncrossed her legs and stood up from her position on the very beginning of her pets back. She treaded over to Alec slowly, her body tipping as Talika took a slight turn. Her feet could slide easier on her skin now because the riding blanket she normally strapped on her was missing, just a very tattered corner of it tucked inside her reigns, perfect to-hold-in-your-hand sized worn rope that came around to the back of her large head. It was still secure so she wondered where Talika could have gone that ripped the blanket off of her. Perhaps she'd have to get a new one.

"Alec," she started softly. "Hey." She wanted to comfort him, put a hand on his back and give him genuine eyes but she had absolutely no idea how to do that for him. If he's angry with his sister then how would he react to her?

"What?" A snap of the word. He didn't look away from his scraped hand, his fingers calloused through what had to be years of hard work, and dried blood flying off in little flecks as he picked at it.

"I..." She weighed her options briefly, considered not saying anything at all because if he mocked her for trying to bond and make him feel better she didn't know if she'd be able to restrain herself from shoving him off of their ride. "had to leave my mom too," He froze, jaw unlocking like he was going to say something so she just kept going. "Simon had to actually drag me away while I kicked and screamed... I watched the Fire Nation throw her down... It was all my fault. I didn't listen to her and I should have. And then because of that Simon had to leave his mom too. All of this is my fault, I know that. The last thing I wanted to do was do the same to you guys. I wish I told your mom I wasn't a waterbender." No longer did she look at Alec, instead she cast her gaze out at the water below them, glass-like liquid with slow moving glaciers littered with snow and the occasional creature. Anything to take her mind off of that awful memory, the plaguing scent of the burning village still buried inside of her nostrils. "Then maybe she would have sent me away."

"You wouldn't have gone away." She didn't know what she expected from him but it wasn't that. It didn't sound angry and so she had to look back at him to make sure she was able to read the look on his face. He still didn't look at her, instead he continued to pick at his hand with two fingers pressing into the wound while his face was pointed up at the clouds as if he was counting the hours left in the day. "You're irritatingly stubborn."

No volatile emotion. No wrathful tone or rage filled eyes. She decided it was still safe to push her luck. "Well... Blame me, but don't blame Izzy." He immediately turned look at her, his rounded brows forced to straighten with this hard expression, a crease lighting up the middle of his forehead. "She didn't want to leave her mom either."

"I know that." Even though it sounded defensive she waited for him to continue, as this was not the tone that sounded like he was done having this conversation just yet. "I don't blame her, she knows that."

"Tell her anyways?" A simple request while she flicked her eyes briefly over to see Isabelle crouched down next to her best friend, patting Simon's back with an uneasy grimace on her face as he leaned over Tali's body. Bless her.

Alec's sigh pulled her away from the friendly sight and back to him. He was once again facing the view rather than Clary, which proved he was feeling off. Before he had no problem getting in her face to practically spit on her. "Yeah." He relented, no further argument.

Even after giving his confirmation he didn't exactly rush it, didn't turn to get her attention right away like Clary had hoped. The last thing she wished for was for the two of them to be on rocky terms when they were all sort of... a _team_ now. She just sighed, this resigned noise, as she went to leave him alone now. She wasn't going to keep pushing when he's already agreed with her, that in itself was a miracle she hadn't expected to accomplish. Talika made an aggressive sound now, it rumbled through her whole body until it became dull vibrations under their feet. They all glanced around but the pet that had saved them had descended higher, up into a wispy batch of clouds. There was nothing but fog around them for a few feet until they cleared it all and Clary's eyes could widen again.

To be fair they hadn't exactly gotten that far from the Tribe yet, hadn't even discussed where they were supposed to be headed yet, so seeing that airship behind them as Talika moved again, it wasn't surprising but it was slightly disheartening. "That's the other airship." Isabelle straightened herself out, no longer concerned with Simon's unfortunate nausea. 

"Look around, where's the other?" Alec took lead, the four of them, even Simon, twirled around in countless circles. Not seeing the other airship only frustrated him. "You said they would follow." He shifted his anger to Clary... Of course the ease between them wasn't supposed to be permanent but she had thought this was behind them. 

"They... did," she tried but it only earned her a glare. "Just not all of them."

"So the man who tried to kill my mother is still there with her and you're not turning around yet?"

"And bring them all back there...? C'mon man." Simon sounded sick but jumped to Clary's defense without request.

Alec only grunted in response.

Before anything else could be said there was shrill of noise in the air, a loud horn of an instrument of some kind, something that was meant to alert you to it's sources presence. It's direction was from the airship. It looked like it was delicately floating in the clouds beneath it, they curled around it's chilly metal structure all the way up to it's top deck. It wasn't large, just looked like a balcony to a small building, and it was framed by canons she knew were fueled with pure heat. There was a man out on the deck, she couldn't make him out clearly this far away, but she could see he was not the commander from before. This man was pale. Blonde. She could see that much. There was something awkward looking in his hand, just a blob from this distance, and Alec must have assumed it was a weapon because he was peering over Talika, seeing how far they were from the water source. "Tell this thing to go down." Alec demanded, barely looking at Clary and nudging his head towards her reigns.

"I got this." Simon spoke up, everyone turning to him and each of them giving him their own look. "It's gotta be like riding a horse right?" He groaned in discomfort as he tried to roll himself out of his little ball, his body rocking like the ship they had come on just hours ago.

Before Clary could tell him not to force himself - or that it wasn't at all like riding a horse - the blonde man brought that weapon looking thing to his mouth and when he cleared his throat they could hear him just fine. It was a bullhorn. "Clarissa!" The man declared, the sound of his voice something so spine chillingly menacing even despite his elegant accent. Maybe that smooth, friendly tone coming from the Fire Nation was meant to make her sick. "Just turn yourself over and your friends won't be harmed! Your father will just have us continue to follow you. You know that!"

Even if she wanted to respond there was a good chance he wouldn't be able to hear her clearly anyways. Talika suddenly dipped, Clary and Isabelle latching onto each other in a fit of surprise. The three turned their bodies to see Simon at the metaphorical helm, the fire breathing cat following the tug on her reigns without any resistance. The girls straightened themselves out, their bodies leaning backwards but they were steady otherwise. "What are you doing?" Alec demanded, voice biting as he directed it at the nonbender. "Do you even know what you're doing?"

Simon barely spared him a glance over his shoulder, too busy focusing on how close they were getting to the water. "Getting us closer like you wanted!" He yanked the reigns upwards, this strained tug, and Tali jerked. Her body stayed low and just inches above the water, now they were much lower and the blonde man didn't have to look all the way up but rather down on them. "Just like a horse!" Simon cheered, sounding pleased with himself, not worried about Alec's doubts at all.

Alec wasted no time then, he shoved Clary backwards and pulled Isabelle forward with him, keeping her steady on her feet. The Avatar stumbled just a bit but she let her arms come out at her sides and act as a momentary balancing beam. She couldn't even begin to yell at him, he and his sister went on the offensive now that they had the power of the ocean just under them. There was a wave rocking side to side with their bodies, building itself up until it knocked underneath the airship, making a cracking noise against it. It shifted dangerously, tipping back just a little bit before straightening itself out. The water splashed back and it was like a stormy downpour, Clary's body getting soaked with the freezing water, all that was missing was some claps of thunder and more low hanging clouds.

As the airship rocked back down they all saw the blonde man disappear inside and just as he did the canons lining up the sides lit up, this menacing orange glow and before the four of them could even think much they shot off, this loud thumping, and balls of metallic fire blasted down on them. "Simon!" Clary cried, this humming in her feet that sent her flying backwards to launch herself at him. Just as she thought she could make it to the reigns he jerked Talika to the far right, knocking them out of the way of the fire ball closest to them. She rocked with Tali and her legs slid out from under her, almost causing her to go off and plummet to her doom, when arms wound around her torso and she was being spun around until she was standing again. She could hear the balls crash into the water with how close they were to it and she glanced up at Alec, planning to exchange a look of gratitude but he wasn't looking at her.

"Again," he commanded, likely talking to Isabelle who readied herself as well. "Clary- watch and follow." He gripped her arm without having to look back at her and tugged her in between him and his sister. "Plant your legs as steady as you can and move your arms the way you want the water to move." The two of them demonstrated without any thought, another heavy blow knocking up against the bottom of the airship, this time making an even louder thwacking noise. It was almost like the bottom deck of the airship was hollow. "Take a deep breath and think of it as you would fire... but without all of your emotions. Water is serenity not anger. Calm yourself and focus on the task at hand."

"Determination Clary, that's all you need to be a waterbender." Isabelle yelled over the roar of the ships engine. She shot her friend a look that _screamed_ determination and then she began to mock their stance. 

She spread her legs wide, boots heavy as they dug into Talika's scales, with her shoulders back, while she also tried to keep her arms free. She imagined them as an extension of her mind like suggested, like the way she should be able to move fire. It was difficult at first, for her to feel like she could actually move it, but once she finally said **_fuck it_** to fire she just envisioned the water as her arms now. Like if she moved them they'd be coated with it as if the sleeves of a shirt. 

When Alec and Izzy moved again they stared at Clary as if waiting for her to follow along. She shifted her body, twisting and pushing the feeling of the phantom water along with every slight push of her shoulders through the icy air, just as her mentors did. The first attempt felt like nothing, she barely did much but a small wave, rocking the water below the airship while Alec and Izzy did all of the work again. Clary grunted, this frustrated stomping of her foot to go along with it as the aggravation set in her shoulders.

"Stop, don't square yourself off." The eldest male demanded, one of his hands gripping her shoulder and shoving it back into it's intended place. "You damn firebender, focus on the **task** not the failure. Keep going."

"I can't help it." She argued, yanking herself out of his grasp before straightening herself out again by herself. Before being able to try again- or continuing to fight with Alec, the canons recovered. There was a heavy whir of it's internal engines revving up, and just as the balls of thick heat shot out Talika soared upwards. Clary's eyes grew wide, as if ready to bug out of her skull, and her hands found Isabelle. They steadied each other while Alec relied on the water, tunnels of it followed him up as the flying feline continued to climb up through the clouds. It was as if they were for him to lean on. 

"Uh, Clary?" Simon called out, not even turning his head to look at her. She didn't like that tone of his at all. "Where the hell am I going?"

There was a split second of panic, "The... southern Air Temple?"

"Great I guess I'll just go off memory since I've been there like... a thousand times." 

"Is now the time?" Isabelle asked out loud while her sharp, carefully pained nails, dug into Clary's arm.

"No, it's not." Alec decided forcefully, his ever growing liquid limbs breaking off from it's water source and he cracked them up like they were the reigns of an invisible creature. Once out in front of him he shot frozen bits and pieces of it off like arrows flying from a drawstring. The flying pieces shot out into the cannons openings and Clary quickly gathered what he was doing. As the canons reloaded themselves, likely done manually from the inside, they made a horrible crunching sound as if cogs in a machine were clogged with some kind of debris and yet they still tried to turn themselves into a working order. The insides kept trying and Alec kept blasting into them mercilessly until finally they gave way. They exploded off of the ships sides due to the overwhelming pressure. The damage tore off some of the sides, leaving guts of the ship exposed and like the good leaders son, Alec kept the heat on it, shooting off into the now open vessel until his ammo of frozen water was gone. They were too far from the ocean to allow him to reload but Clary doubted that he even needed to.

"You have to teach me how to do that." The spirited Avatar commanded, staring over at him in a sheen of awe. She hated his opinion on seemingly everything but how could she deny his skill? Impossible.

He barely gave her a glance before eyeing the ship again, as if waiting for another attack. "That's the Master's job isn't it? I'm not going to the North Pole for no reason." She could hear him scoff even under the sound of rushing wind from the ship.

She sighed tiredly, rolling her eyes, before a small squeak from her best friend caught her attention. They all watched as Simon led them towards a large archway of ice, it must have built itself up over thousands of years and even still it didn't look all that sturdy. "Guys! Where am I going, seriously?!"

"Not into a wall of ice!" Alec responded in an obvious growl of irritation. "So I suggest through the hole!"

Simon nodded hurriedly, pushing forward on Tali's reigns until she moved downwards as much as he hoped would push them through without anyone losing their head. Clary could hear Isabelle grunt in fear right next to her ear, and yet as they approached it the Avatar closed her eyes and silently hoped for the best. She kept them closed until she heard a deafening crashing sound, almost like two brick walls colliding into one another after travelling a great distance, and once she opened them she looked behind them to see the airship being crushed under a wall of ice. It was too big and clipped the top of the small arch and while it didn't look like it would keep it down for forever it still halted, likely going to need time for repairs. Unfortunately Clary couldn't feel like they were in the clear, she knew there was more where that came from.

"Okay, mission accomplished!" Simon cheered, one of his hands leaving the reigns to fist bump the air with this small victory.

"Good job!" Clary peeled herself off of Izzy so she could stand on her own two wobbly feet until she was behind her friend, plopping down with one hand on his shoulder. 

"Good job, we still don't know which direction we're going."

The Avatar craned her head back towards Alec while he stood there, his arms crossed over his chest. "Would it kill you to be positive for a minute?"

"If you're delusional enough to think we're safe then _yes,_ it probably would get me killed to play pretend with you."

Instead of continuing the argument she sighed, glancing out over their surroundings to try and find a placeholder, some kind of marker... but of course there were no road signs in the middle of the open waters. "...Wait." She tore her bag from her shoulder, rummaging around through all of her unfolded clothes until she found some of the slightly crushed scrolls she had noticed in here before. After unrolling one she giggled in victory, this small burst of happiness in her chest. "Want to be positive now?" She held one of the maps out to Alec, as if rubbing it in his face.

He stared at it silently, seeming unimpressed despite it being exactly what they needed to get around. "Be able to read it and then I'll pat you on the back." And just like that he was no longer staring at it and once again distracted himself with his cut palm.

She looked at him for a few seconds, this dumbfounded expression, and all she could think was: _what the hell is wrong with you?_ and yet she already knew the answer. His mother was gone for all he knew, she appeared in his small Water Tribe and ruined everything but here he was. With his sister to help Clary anyways. Maybe she should just avoid conversation unless he initiated it from now on... everyone needs time. She hadn't gotten hers so the least she could do was give him his.

"Let me see?" Isabelle's melodic voice pulled her from her trance and Clary watched as the waterbender sat down on her knees next to her, hand held out for the map. The Avatar passed it along willingly, a small nod being given along with it. "I haven't gotten to travel much but maybe I'll be able to see where we are." 

While the goddess appearing girl glanced over all the images laid out on the scroll in front of her she shifted even further until she was sat as close to Simon as possible. "Here." She directed him, pointer finger landing on the map to show him where the were. Clary watched as she gestured to the painted compass in the corner, "Turn us around and we're going..." A painted nail scraped across the soft parchment briefly until on top of a bundle of depicted Temples. "Right here. If we follow the landmarks we'll know where we are on the way."

Simon, their current captain, nodded as he looked down at the map while she explained though his head jerked up again periodically to make sure they weren't headed towards another stacked wall of ice. Clary doesn't know how he let that thing sneak up on them. "Okay, so..." He experimentally yanked on the rope, trying to turn Tali with not only the steering object but with his body at well. At first it didn't compute to the animal, instead she fluttered her wings faster, as if being told to speed up some more, but one more tug and she made a small noise of acceptance, the soft cry lost in the air as they turned a sharp right and headed straightforward from there. On paper the southern Air Temple didn't seem so far away but she should have know that looks were deceiving.

It was about an hour and a half that Clary spent stretched out on her pet's back, her legs up in the air behind her while one elbow was bent as the other hand was holding a charcoal pencil, gliding along the paper as she kept looking up at her model. Isabelle was smiling faintly down into her lap, one of the tomes from Clary's bag propped up on a bent leg as she sat still as stone. "You're the perfect model. You never move." Clary chuckled, spending far too much time on the model's hair than what was probably acceptable. The last thing she wished to do though was not correctly transfer Isabelle's beauty onto her paper. How would she be able to show her something sub par?

"I always knew I would be." The waterbender sighed wistfully, a tone of voice that should properly be accompanied by a dazzling grin and a hair flip but she was too busy continuing to be frozen solid in her chosen spot.

All Clary had left to do was the remaining details of her face, filling up her lips and the insides of her eyes, but Alec's voice shook her out of it. "We're here." He announced before even Simon could say anything. Clary dropped her pencil back in her bag, not trusting herself not to rush her finishing touches and flipped her drawing pad shut before stuffing it inside as well. Isabelle put the tome away and stood with her brother. 

"I'm excited." She looked to her sibling, a hand squeezing his bicep forcefully as if a substitute for releasing her energy through jumping up and down whilst clapping. "Do you think he's still here?"

"He didn't come home so maybe he found survivors." 

Clary stood as well now as the clouds cleared, the large orange and brown painted Temples standing up through the mountains and were decorated with many trees and wild brushes of green. The doors to the largest, centerfold Temple were taller than any building in her home village. The Temples themselves were like the large scrapers in Ba Sing Se. She remembers drawings in one of her many Earth Kingdom tomes and not even they seemed like they could compare. The structures themselves seemed like they were the very foundation of the mountains, like if you went below them, in their darkest depths, it could lead you all the way through the mountains until back at the bottom. Every building was connected by large stone courtyards and steps, open training grounds and some of them were filled with planks sticking out of the ground, little obstacles like some kind of course for the airbenders that previously resided here. Despite the vastness of the Temple she knew there were no nomads left here. You would have been able to see them as you approached, no matter how large a space. It made her heart lurch for them and her mind burn with hatred for her father.

Talika landed down on one of the stone spaces, swirls of small designs drawn into the concrete-like ground from whoever designed the place. They all climbed off of the fire breather, Clary's feet felt unstable as they touched the manipulated earth like she had forgotten how to walk up until now. They all spun around, eyes sweeping across the landscape from their high up position, Alec to likely survey for enemies while Simon for wonder. Either way, it was clear they were alone here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for those who left comments & kudos on the previous chapter !! <3


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